The present invention is directed to a hearing aid to be worn behind the hear (BTE device) and composed of at least two housing shells, comprising a hinge formed by at least one male member of a housing shell and comprising allocated catch means and comprising a battery compartment pivotable around the hinge that can assume a plurality of swiveled positions with the assistance of the catch means.
The battery compartments of traditional BTE devices (see, for example, German patent AS25 03 253 or German utility model 84 28 516) are situated at the lower end of the hearing aid housing and are pivotably held by the housing. The battery compartments can be brought into at least two swiveled positions, whereby the first is a pivoted-in position in which a battery held in the compartment touches the contact springs with its pole surfaces, and whereby the second is a pivoted-out position wherein the battery can be removed and replaced. Latch means are provided at the housing in order to hold the battery compartment firmly in at least the first position. The housing is traditionally designed such that it comprises two housing shells, whereby the one comprises a pin forming the swiveling axis and the second housing shell comprises the latch means. This design is usually employed both in hearing aids whose housing shells are composed of two lateral shells as well as in hearing aids whose shells are separated into a front shell and into a back shell.
In this design, however, both shell halves are required in order to hold the battery compartment in a defined position. Manufacture must thereby be carried out with particularly great care so that the various mounts of the battery compartment, particularly the swiveling axis and the latch means, are arranged with greatest precision with reference to the battery compartment and are arranged fitting to one another. Even slight deviations from the minimum tolerances, namely, lead to the result that the battery compartment, for example, does not terminate precisely with the housing shells or wobbles slightly in one or more positions.
German patent 22 19 970 discloses a hearing aid housing composed of two lateral shells, whereby a hinge pin and catch means are arranged at one shell half. The afore-mentioned design outlay, however, is not eliminated in this case since the position of a plug-in hole for the hinge pin at the second shell half must nonetheless be precisely mated to the pin.